Apparatus for softening paper.



. .I No. 873,169. PATENTBD DB0. 1o, 1907.

i;- sanguin. APPARATUS ,Fon SGF-EBNINGfPAPBR.

APLIUATIOI EILB) AUG, 14,1907.

4 nms-SHEET 1v PATPNTBD DHL-1n, 1907.

iT. SCHERP. y APPARATUS POR SOPTPNING PAPER.

APPLIOATIQN FILED AUG. 14, 1907.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2 lll-mi, 4

IIIIII I PI Illllllulyl `3251iPima/litem@ 10,873,169 l PATENTBD DB0.10,-1907.

^ T, SGHERP.

APPARATUS POR SOFTENING PAPER.

APPLICATION yFILED AUG. 14,*1907.

4 SHEETS-Sll 3,

vMPATPNTPD,DB0.1o, 1907.l

' fr. sol-1PRP. APPARATUS PoR soPTBNING PAPER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 14, 1907.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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is desirable that the paper be as plia @El Vl THEODORE SCHERF, DI" CLEVELAND, OHIO` .API-ARATUS FOR SQFTENING PAPER.

iro. 873,169.

Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented pee. 1o, 1907.

Application filed Anims?, 14.1907. Serial No. 388,512,

To all 'where/lt may concern:

Be 'rtlgnown thatl, TiiEoDoRE SGHERF, .a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State oltOliio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Softeninglaper, of which the following is a speciiisation? reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming part of the same.'

ln numerous uses to which paper is put it soft as possible, consistent with* the strength necessary ier the given purpose; ample, paper `for making bags should possess a considerable degree of pliabilityoi" softness. A bag made' of suchvpaper conforms more closely to its contents, thereby. dis tributing thev .weight or pressure thereof more evenly, and its mouth can be more easily gathered or folded by the hand and can be" more securely closed, asis particularly desirable where the contents are ol a powdered or granular character. 4Paper to be wrapped around electrical conductors or other parts of electrical apparatus to insulate the same should also be soft and pliable. Such paper contormsmore closely to the contour of the iobject to .be covered, and the work of wrapping or covering can be done -more easily `andrapidly. Paper for the manufacture 'of imitation leather should also be of the same soft and pliable character to l produce the most eective imitationof the natural article, both for the' desired pliability and to permit the production" of embossed patternsv without cracking orfiearing under the pressure of the embossing-dies'. lNiivmerous other uses might be Amentioned where paper of the character `described is desirable, but those referred to are suilicientr to show its wide and diversified lield of utility. Practically all the papers now made, how ever, which possess the tensile strength necessary for their manifold uses, possess also`an undesirable degree of stillness, due chiefly to the sizing, which doesnot permit them to bend readily, and fre u ently causes them to form hard creasesfor olds when bent on an arc of shortraclins,l or to 'become creased or wrinkled ililhandling: This lack opliability is a serious drawback for manypurposes for which paper is used, as already pointed out. ln my. prior stent, No. 860,696, issued to me July 2311. i907, I have described 'and claimed broadly `an invention for softening paper and have illustrated therein an eHectle or- For err-- ive apparatus 'fortlie purpose. My present invention, subject of the present application,

also embodies theinvention of the 1prior pat- Ient just mentioned, but also inc l udes numerous improved features designed to add to thel efliciency of the apparatus` proved apparatus is illustrated in the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view of the complete apparatus, la portion of the main frame beingA shown in section. Fig. 2 is a detail side view of a portion of the apparatus. rear view, partly in vertical section, of the portion of the ap aratus shown inFiU. 2; 41ig. 4 is a sectiona plan view of Fig. 2 g llig. 5

This im,-

Fig. 3'is a` is a detail front view of the upper portion of l Fig 2; Fig. Grepresents aside view of an apparatus such as-described in Fig.` 1, with a modified arrangement of ribbinU bars; Fig. 7 represents a iront elevation el? the ribbing bars, guide rollers, and supporting frame forming part of the a paratus shown in Fig. l, the1 rear feed rol ers being omitted for clear-ness of illustration, and Fig. 8 represents a view taken on the line 8 8 of Fig. 6 looking in the'. direction of the arrows.

The apparatus of my prior patent before referred to includes one or more sets of cooperating kneading orv breaking rolls, intermeshing to successively greater de tlis, 'between which the aper to be so tened is drawn at a higher ripheral s eed of the rolls. My resent'inventionalso employs such sets o rolls, and in its preferred embodiment six sets are rovided, arran ed in two vertical series of t ree roll-sets eac The actuating mechanisms' neal speed than .the pefor the sets, to rotate the rolls and draw the vpa er through them, are all ,substantially ali e, and are .connected by power transmitting devices so that power applied to one set to actuate the same will drive all the rest.

With the above brief outline in mind the following description of the apparatus illustrated in the drawings will be readily understood.

On a suitablebase, A, vare mounted two pairs of side frames B, B', C, C', in which are mounted the six roll-sets. The kneading or breaking rolls are designated by D, D", and

as shown are bladed or liited lonofitudinally.'

The rolls of each set are journ/aled one above the other in the side frames, and the up er vroll D is mounted in vertically adjusta le bearings d, d., so 'as to vary the extent to which the blades Aof the two rolls intermesh.

CII

ries, While one or another of Y transmitting power, as will he readily Backef each set of lineading rolls is a pair olf irictionel ieed-rollers, E, E, by which the paper under treatment is drawn positivelv through the kneading rolls. The bearings e', e, of the upper feed rolls E are loosely mounted in vertical guides in the side frames, so that the Weight of the upper roller will hr, borne by the lower roller, to aid in producing the necessary grip on the paper between them. The shaft of the lower ieed roller is the driving shaft of its roll-set, fby which term is meant a pair of kneading rolls and the devices cooperating therewith), and each of said shafts is connected with the corresponding shaft in the roll-setnext in the se these shafts is suitablj,T connected with a source of pov. not shown, se that all the roll sets will driven from e single lower feed-roller shalt.

For the purpose of driving the lineading rolls, the following instrumentalities pro vided. for each roll-set. @n mie end of the lower feed-roller shaft is e. gear e2, conneetetl through 'a pair of gears e3 with a gear (l2 en the end of the shaft of' lthe lower lrneafling roll, l), 'thereby driving the latter in direc-- tion to assist the feeding of the peper l3e tween the lrneading rolls. Alongside of gear d2, on the seme shaft, (ls, meshing With a gearf jeurnalefi in e hraelretj" on the side frame. This geerf nieshes'with a similar gearf2 journaled in the upper arm of shell-erankf3 pirfctally mounted on the shaft otgear j. The other erm of the bell crank has a vertically extending,l slot f4 Working on e set screwf The gearf2 e. gear d4 on the shalt oi the u per lmeeding roll, D; and the gears d3' f f2, ci heini:

7 .l 7 same in sise7 it i ill. ce seen'that the ,tire lrneading rolls will he rotatedL the'ssiie speed. These roll-3 might he driven one re'ctly from the other by interme ng rs on their shafts, but it "will he rei emhereri that the upper roll espahle el. ertieul justinent. illes adjustment 'would of course the Ksaid gears mesh te lei y preducing wore or less i between the two, and a loss of eiiic u unile"- stcocl hy those-familier with the p i iples et toothed gearing. With the arrangement shown, however, no such lest motion and loss of eiiieieney can occur. Thus, the mesh of the gears afa, f andf'is constant, while the mesh of gears f2 and d4 can be adjusted or varied, as the roll D and its 'gear 24 are reised or lowered, by throwing,l the verticalarm ef the hell crank f3 toward or from the gear d* as may be necessary. lNhen ,the

ears just referred te are inspropermesh the ell-crank is locked. in its-adjusted osition b y tightening its set screwf The ost motion which might result under the conditi ons referred to shove 'would` elso 'vary the lateral spacing of the intermeshing blades of the linearling rolls, whereas the hlerlee ,of ruw roll should he etpiirlifftsu-l,from tl :uljzueut hlurles en the other the lilarles fume iulu mesh. This lutter fioiulitieii is leerl V shown :ir-ie, "iiee the mei-[hing el' Y, 1 construit, by the proper adjustment er ilu-nier tuwimler troni the lett rchei. ueeessnujf, it will he that there een also he ne vuriutiou oi the lateral spacing ei' tle lilarles ou one lrnearling rell relwtire to tl'ie hlmles en the other, although, the depth lo which the hlzides interinesh cmi he varied es desired This elieet of the carinir ing the lateral seine at :ill times, is i1 important ltl au tn in lugs. l azul gears j au el l 'on jf hy lrietiou Mers throuw WW1 the fermer. .L

in the irst rell e i tout elf me irzzmes l" l l l mi frein en id lneli ur' 5? 'suiiplrted .in :irme from tue sfle 'frmues r. il?, il?, lil are proproperly support the m trai'el through peper leaves the i iut-1r lll'j :it the reim m 1i @ther icl, virlerl ss slniwu, paper et verieu. s the apparati ,irl the tter the papel' im the rollers :i i, r. 'Y J- ff if u if .Vf f1 fr enge extent ei serine uA Lne ittei v. i-iu. im

this purpose su idler rl' is providerlin l'rouol' each pair of ieed. rollers, so that they, ieper will he directed clown sud 'aroundthe lower feed-roller. the Sametime, the idlers lll, H3, El, H and Vl are so positioned afs to keep the paper in contact with the respective upper feed rollers over atleast half the surface of euch, as shown iuFig.- l.

To transmit power from the one roll-set to another to drive the .letter from the former, 'the lower iee'droller shalt of each of the trui sets is provided, at the cud opposite te gear 02, with 'a bevel gear e, meshing 'with bevel @r the i? gears e on a transmission shafte.

l. 2l il 60 called multi-layer paper.

lower shafts may be provided with sprocket wheels es, connected by a chain e". Both methods are illustrated; the first to connect the roll-sets of' the same series, the second to connect the two series.

l-diameters of the kneading rolls and gear d2,

and the diameters ofthe Jfeed-rollers and gear e2,.so that with. the same angular speed in both, the feed-rollers will have greater peripheraluspeed than the kneading rolls; or

by suitably proportioning the gears e2 and cl2; or by both methods, as in the apparatus illustrated. l

The operationl of the apparatus as thus lar described'wili be readily understood. The

eflect of each, set ot kneading rolls isv to bend the paper morev or less sharply over the cooperating blades, first in. one direction and then in the other. The natural result of such action wbuld be to leave the paper crimped kor eorrugatedfbut such a result 1s prevented by drawing `the paper through rolls at, a speed higher' than that at which it would travel it carried forward only'by the rolls themselves. Hence the paper is not only bent over the blades in succession, but

is also drawn firm ly over their edges. This slip relative to the blades causes the line of fold over each blade to move slowly back ward until the blade is by the rotation of the roll carried out of contact withthe paper.

ln the meantime the paper is engaged b succeeding blades of the two rolls and the action just described is repeated on each blade, so that, even it' but one set of rolls 40 were employed, every portion of the paper would be subjected toV one or more such kneading and drawing actions. I prefer, however, to employ several sets of rolls, for, example six sets, as in the apparatus illus;l

trated. 1 The rolls ofi the first set are by ad-l justment of the upper roll made to intermesh to a comparatively slight depth, and their efl'eeton the paper is correspondingly less than il' they meshed to a greater depth.

'lhe rolls of the succeeding intermesh to suc` eessively greater depths, with correspondingly greater eflect, so that the paper is gradually,brought to the desired degree of softness and pliability.

As is well known, some apers larly the heavier kinds, are ormed y unitving, two or more layers or ilms of pul inthe wet' state. Thus united the severa layers' forni a single7 firm sheet of paper, sometimes The action of the kneading' `rolls on such paper is not only to render the same pliable and soft in the' manner described, but also to loosen thelayers from each other at numerous points,

,leaving them adhering `at 4intermediate 'articupoints. This result can readily be observed b bending the paper, causing the separate portions of the layer on the' inside of the bend to l'iulge and formy blister-like protuberances. By drawing the sheet over a rigid, rounded edge or bar these blisters can be, folded down upon the other layer or layers and thus formed into ribs or ridges, as described more 'r'ully inrmy prior patent No. 860,69?, issued onthe same day as my patent lfirst mentioned. By inelining one or more :of the bars the ribs produced. thereby l will cross the ribs produced by the other. e In this way 'various efiects can be produced,

No. 860,697 abdve referred to. One of' the most pleasing`efl`ects is produced by one or more bars at about 150 to the length of the paper, and one or more bars at the same angle, but inplined oppositely to the first. ribs thus produced are at right angles to each other, Tiving a fair imitation of alliga-A tor skin.' producing this eifeet is illustrated in Figs. 'l and 7,. Attire rear "of the apparatus the base isl provided with a air of side frames members O, O', t e branches of which are at right angles to each other, thus forming -four ribbingA bars over which the paper, after leaving the 'idler H1, passes inthe manner shown in Fig. 7,` so that the opposite sides of the paper are operated upon successively by the ribbing bars. Rollers o, o are journaled s ectively, and 'guide the paper to and from tlie ribbing'bars. -Froin roller 0', the paper isdirected into engagement with a pair of feed rollers E2, E3, by which the paper is is drawn firmly over the ribbing bars. The feed rollersare driven l" rom the last softening mechanism by a chain P, runninv'on sprocket's carried by the lower feed rol ers.

ln Figs. 6 and S there is shown a modification of the arrangement of the ribbing` meehanism, shown in Figs-1 and 7. Four ribbingl bars are shov, n L, L', L2, L, arranged in different horizontal planes and supported in side frames M, M", mounted on the base A. After leaving the idler l'l" the paper passes under an idle guide rollerl, up over the bar L', thence down under bar L, up past two lguide rollers Z, 7,2, between bars L and L3; thence the paper passes over bar L2, down under bar l, up over an idle roller Z3, and down under a guide roller Z4 by which it is.V

ers E2, E, by which the paper is drawnirmly over the ribbing bars. The feed-rollanism by the chain P running on sprockets carried by the low er feed-rollers. The ribs or ridges produced by these bars are gener ally parallel vwith one another and at'right angles to the length of the paper.

l y as more'l'ully,l explained m my prior patent -onvenient construction forv at 'the top and bottom of the side-frames, re-

' ersare driven from the lastsoftening meeh- N, N', supportinir respectively the \l shaped llO - directed into engagement with the feed rollcenfbination, a plurality of sets o avance to direct the aper into engagement with said l rolls, feed-ro lers engaging the aper after issuance from the kneading ro s', a `guide roller .to direct the paper into enga ement with the feed-rollers, and means for riving the feed-rollers at higher speed than the iineading rolls, as set forth.

i4. In an apparatus for softenintg Ipaper, in neading rolls, sets` of feed-rollers for the respective sets of kneading rolls, means for driving the kne'ading rolls from their respective feed-rollers, and means .for driving the sets of feedrollers one set from another, asset forth.

15. In an apparatus for softening paper, in combination, a plurality of sets of kneading rolls, arranged one set above another, sets of feed-rollers'for the respective sets of kneading rolls, gearing connecting each set of feedrollers with its respective lineading rolls, and gearing for driving the feed-roller sets one from another, as set forth.

16. in an apparatus for softening aper, in combination, a plurality of sets of neading rolls, arranged in a plurality of vertical series, sets of feed-rollers for the respective sets of lineading rolls, ineans for driving the sets of kneading rolls from their respective feedrollers, means for connecting the feed-roller setsin each series to drive the said sets one from another, and means connecting a feed-j roiler set of each series to transmit driving power from one series to another, as set forth.

17 in an apparatus for softeni paper, in combination, a pair of spaced si e frames,

lineading rolls journaled. therein, feed-rollers journaled in the side frames on one side of the kneading rolls, means carried by the side frames for supporting roll of paper on the other side of the kneading rolls, and means for driving the feed-rollers at hi her speedl than the kneading rollers, as set orth.

18. in an apparatus for softeni paper, in combination, -a pair of s aced si e frames, kneading rolls and fee -rollers journaled 'therein in sets in vertical series, means for driving the said rolls and rollers, and a pair of arms extending from the side frames and adapted to support a roll of paper, as set forth. l

19. In an apparatus for softening paper in combination, a plurality of ribbing bars over which the aper passes, yand guide rollers for directing t ie paper to and from said bars, as set forth. 'f

20. In an apparatus for softening paper, in combination, a pair of spacedside frames, ribbing bars rollers journaled in' the side frames for directing the paper to and from said bars, as set forth.

21. In an apparatus for softening paper, in combination, means for loosening portions of the layers of multi-layer paper, a guide roller receiving the paper after issuance from said means, ribbing bars receiving the paper from said roller, and a guide roller receiving the `paper from said bars, as set forth.

y 22. In an apparatus forsoftening paper, in combination, a series vof reversely inclined ribbing bars, a supporting frame therefor, and means ier directing said bars, as set forth.

, THEGDORE SCHERF.

Witnesses: n

J. B. HULL,

M. A. Tanon.

paper to and from 

